Isla stumbled out into the snow with Iona, her thoughts blurring.
Oh, she was such an idiot. He was slumming it. Literally flirting with her because she was standing right next to him; he couldn’t even be bothered to take a look around the island. She was right there, she would do. Her face flamed brighter than ever as she remembered the pictures of Norwegian supermodels and actresses and of him at premieres and parties. Oh God, how could she have been so dumb?
As if. As if she would ever have been more than a plaything for someone like him. And worse than that, he was obviously horrible. Imagine being sent away by your own father. She thought back to her fight with her mother. Oh God. Everything was so awful.
Oh God. And she had been about to . . . Her blood ran cold. Would he have made fun of her with all his rich Norwegian friends when he went home?
So much made sense now. His lack of phone. His patently decent clothes. The way he had absolutely no idea of the value of money. Even the stupid bottle of champagne, now sitting nearly empty on the corner table.
Iona didn’t even pause; she took her straight to her house and opened up a bottle of whisky.
Lorna sat by herself, staring at the box and wondering whether to wrap it. She was going to the MacKenzies’ on Christmas Day, so she had a massive pile there, including far too much for Agot, as usual, even though she knew fine well spoiling her didn’t help.
But she had one gift—very small, something easily concealed, nothing anyone would ask about. She had hemmed and hawed and wondered about it, but in the end had decided what now did she possibly have to lose?
They hadn’t been in contact at all, and she had absolutely no idea what was going on with him, but the boys, she noticed with some satisfaction, seemed happy and well, hadn’t become withdrawn or difficult. Ash was looking forward to Christmas as much as any of them; Ib was still out there in the most freezing weather kicking a ball at playtime with his chums. If there had been some major upset at home, she’d have seen it through the behavior of the children. Teachers always did. So nothing had changed. Yet.
She wanted to take him a gift. But she knew she shouldn’t. If he was free she’d have seen him.
She walked out into the swirling snow, past the Mure Angel. Looking at it made her smile. It was amazing how quickly it had become part of the landscape. She rather loved it. It gave her light and courage somehow, and suddenly, feeling the parcel in her pocket, she became emboldened. She would take it to him. She made a mental note also to turn up to the emergency council meeting on Boxing Day, make sure to add her voice to the people who wanted to keep it.
She had gotten almost as far as the surgery, then turned round and gone home again. Maybe tomorrow.
IONA FOR ONCE didn’t start gabbling, but came over and put her arms round her friend. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I honestly didn’t realize. I didn’t know you liked him so much.”
She poured two large measures of the medicinal whisky she’d found downstairs.
“I miss you,” she said simply.
“I miss you too,” said Isla. “If you’d been about, I probably wouldn’t have made such a fool of myself.”
“You haven’t made a fool of yourself! He’s a dickhead!”
In response, Isla pulled down the top of the pink dress, exposing a bright red bra strap, something she’d ordered specially from the mainland.
There was a moment’s silence, then both girls burst out laughing, Isla’s bordering slightly on hysteria.
“Oh lord,” said Iona. “Well, he’s missing out.”
“You’d have steered me clear, told me to leave him alone,” said Isla.
“No, I wouldn’t have,” said Iona. “I think he’s a ride. I’d have been even worse. You’d have been with him a million times by now.”
Isla let out a big sigh. “I really liked him,” she said. “What an idiot.”
“Why?” said Iona. “He looked really cut up about it.”
Isla sniffed. “Yeah, he’ll just have to get off with a million supermodels. Or that stupid journalist.”
“She is stupid,” said Iona, and refilled their glasses.
Isla glanced around Iona’s little bedroom, filled with Highland dancing trophies and old pony books. Not unlike hers in fact.
“He had no interest in involving me in his life at all. I was just a bit of fun.”
“Well,” said Iona defiantly. “We are going to have fun.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s a flat coming up on the high street. I miss you, you miss me. We could rent it together.”
“Oh,” said Isla. “But I’d have to leave Mum.”
“You’re going to have to leave her sometime!” said Iona. “She was always trying to push you to university or something anyway. ‘Don’t you think you could do better, Isla?’” Iona made a passable stab at Vera’s voice. Isla sighed again.
“She means well.”
“But it makes you miserable.”
Isla shrugged. “It’s just not my day.”
“Don’t be daft. You’re famous and in the paper!”
“For being an idiot!”
“We’ll have fun, I promise. Come on. It’s Christmas, Loony Dook, Hogmanae, Burns Night, Valentine’s, and then it’ll be spring and all the tourists will be here, and you can enchant one of them to fall in love with you and he’ll stay forever and all will be well, because! We’ll have our own place and you won’t have to skulk about to get a lumber.”
Isla couldn’t help smiling at that. “You’re such an optimist.”
“That’s because we live on top of the world. Stay over?”
Iona was already pulling out the little trundle they’d used when they had sleepovers at eight and nine, talking excitedly about How to Train Your Dragon, and at thirteen, talking the same but about Justin Bieber and the fourth-year boys, and now, it was strangely incredibly comforting that here they were again, looking for the spare toothbrush, trying not to wake Iona’s mum, hushing each other, giggling, and to her great surprise, Isla slept.